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Peter Thompson, CEO Wagga City Council, was today's guest speaker. He was introduced by PP Greg Conkey, recently retired Mayor of Wagga City. Greg praised the work done by Peter in his five years as CEO. He rated Peter as one of the better CEOs in NSW and was pleased that he has been appointed for a further five year term.
Peter said he was proud to serve for another five year term. Speaking without notes or overheads, he displayed a command of his portfolio and addressed a number of issues, not in any order of merit.
- Lake Albert. Council has obtained a licence from Government to draw water from the River to top up the Lake. Peter is pleased to have the physical licence in the property of the council so that there can be no retraction of the agreement. Council is seeking assistance to build the infrastructure from Commonwealth program. If not forthcoming Council will build it themselves. The amount of business the Lake brings to Wagga is a no brainer for a government spend.
- Special Activation Precinct (SAP) The $50 million dollar project at the Industrial Estate is completed on time and under budget. This has come from State Govt funding. There is a lot of interest in Blocks which are being offered behind the Intermodal Freight Terminal. Tenders are bing sought from Agents to manage the sale of books. The next stage, budgeted to cost $105 million, is underway.
- Housing. Wagga has a shortage of housing and there is no easy answer to the problem. Tradies have plenty of work and with the construction boom which is about to get underway, there will be a shortage of staff. Defence is spending $1.5 billion on upgrading the defence bases at Kapok and Forest Hill. Housing to accommodate the extra employees and flow on will be hard to find. New housing estates are proposed in the south of Wagga. There will be two subdivisions offering 5,000 lots. The Northern area around the University will expand but it is years away.
- Bio-Diversity offset laws are killing off a lot of projects because the cost outweighs any profit for developers.
- Waste Disposal Site. Council is in conflict with TransGrid which has used its Compulsory Acquisition Power to obtain an easement for its power lines to run through the middle of the Waste Disposal Site.
- Solar Farms. The positioning of solar farms in farming country is a big issue and Council is having a conference to discuss this. Peter gave an example of how a farmer could be sued for millions of dollars if a fire escaped from a farm and destroyed a solar farm. There is no insurance available for such a catastrophe.
- Strategic Plan. A review is underway regarding housing in the City. While denser housing is desirable it must not damage the heritage nature of so many areas.
- Local Environment Plan is being reviewed.
- Pot Holes. Wagga City Council has a budget of $200 million. Roads come under the category of general expenses. Rate in come is siloed, e.g. Waste rates must be spent of waste disposal etc. Council is responsible for 3,000 ks of roads. Of the budget, $45 million is available for spending on general expenses. This year $37 million has been spent on roads. Put simply there are insufficient funds to fix the roads properly. If a special rate levy were to be introduced it would cost around $400 per year per rateable property. Council has no intention of going down this track at present and will seek funds from other sources.
- PCYC has been opened, a brilliant building.
- Wagga City NSW University is opening a Hospital School to train Rural Doctors, and the first intermodal train has arrived at Bomen. A Company is in talks with council about building a lithium battery facility in Wagga. Talks are underway with Defence about Wagga Airport.
A number of questions were asked by members and answers are included in the text of the above summary.
Peter was thanked by President Phil and presented with a bottle of wine in appreciation of an excellent update of the State of the City. Members showed their appreciation with a round of applause.